3 friends started a road trip from Hirakud in Odisha to Bastar in Chhattisgarh . The place which had enticed us was the Chitrakoot falls and believe me it was worth it. It raced down in a series of cascades with water falling in copious quantities. A bright and beautiful rainbow added wonderful colors to the opaline colored water.
We started a road trip on the 25th of December from Hirakud in Odisha to Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh. The trip was 9 hours long and we passed through western Odisha which is full of lush mountains and rivers. The road has a scenic view with only small towns and villages on the way.
A view on the road
By the time we reached Jagdalpur it was evening. We had booked the resort named 'Naman Bastar' well in advance. The resort, with beautiful lawns and garden have been clubbed like a modern house with separate entrances. We dozed off early as the next day was important.
We started for Chitrakoot around 10 AM. The waterfalls is around 30 kilometres from Jagdalpur town and it took close to an hour.
We could not have enough of the scenic beauty. There are 2 points to view the water falls, from the top where we can see a straight view as in the pictures above. Next we took a flight of stairs to go down to the bottom and get a closer view.
We spent the day around the falls enjoying the beauty. We also took a boat ride which took us close to the fall. The water sprinkles on you as you get closer and it was surreal and refreshing.
The next day we visited the Kanger valley national park. The valley has Kotamsar caves and a small waterfall. There are vehicles available which will take tourists inside the valley to show the cave. The price per vehicle is 1500 rupees with a maximum of 6 people. The cave is dark and guides carry lights to guide the tourists. There are big speleothem formation (stalagmite) in one of the chambers. The entrance to the cave is quite narrow and one has to slide through. Near the cave a stream of small waterfall.
The Tirtahgarh waterfall is Just opposite to the Kanger Valley National Park. There are nearly 100 stairs we need to step down to to reach the waterfalls. The waterfalls are made in a stepwise setting and carved through mountains.
The started our journey back the next day.
Chitrakoot is the biggest waterfall in India and for people in east india it is like a weekend getaway.
